by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Success but for Maharu Yoshimura and Kasumi Ishikawa, gold medallists in Düsseldorf, there was a shock defeat; they experienced a semi-final reverse. They suffered at the hands of Ryusuke Karibe and Yuki Matsumoto (9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3), a pair who one round earlier had almost disappeared from view at the quarter-final stage.

They lost the first two games against Hokuto Koriyama and Kanako Ikita, before recovering to secure the next three (9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-2).

Two quite remarkable performances but they could not make it a third; in the final it was a three straight games defeat at the hands of Masataka Morizono and Mima Ito (11-8, 11-9, 13-11).

Impressive from the champions elect; it had been the same in the immediate preceding two rounds; not a game conceded; they had beaten Mizuki Oikawa and Minami Ando (11-9, 11-8, 11-7), prior to reserving their place in the final courtesy of success in opposition to Yuya Oshima and Hina Hayata (12-10, 11-7, 11-8).

Success for Masataka Morizono and Mima Ito, there was also success for the irrepressible 14 year old Tomokazu Harimoto and 15 years of age Miyu Nagasaki; they won the respective Junior Boys’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Singles titles.

After recording a quarter-final success against Kazuki Hamada (11-9, 11-7, 11-4), Tomokazu Harimoto beat Shunsuke Togami (11-5, 11-7, 11-7) to reserve his place in the final where he overcame Yukiya Uda (11-9, 11-9, 11-9) to claim the top step of the podium.

Straight games successes for Tomokazu Harimoto in the later stages; for Miyu Nagasaki who had impressed at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Riva del Garda, life was more testing.

She needed the full five games to beat Miku Izumo at the quarter-final stage, emerging successful by the very narrowest of margins (11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 6-11), prior to securing victories at the semi-final and final stages by similar margins.

In the penultimate round she recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Yukari Sugasawa (4-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9), before performing a similar fightback in opposition to Maki Shiomi (5-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-8) secure the top prize.

Mixed Doubles

Quarter-Finals 
MORIZONO Masataka / ITO Mima bt OIKAWA Mizuki / ANDO Minami 9, 8, 7
OSHIMA Yuya / HAYATA Hina bt MORITA Yuki / TAIRA Yurika 8, -13, 10, -9, 7
KARUBE Ryusuke / MATSUMOTO Yuki bt KORIYAMA Hokuto / AKITA Kanako -9, -9, 7, 8, 2
YOSHIMURA Maharu / ISHIKAWA Kasumi bt CHAN Kazuhiro / MORIZONO Misaki -9, 6, 6, 3

Semi-Finals 
MORIZONO Masataka / ITO Mima bt OSHIMA Yuya / HAYATA Hina 10, 7, 8
KARUBE Ryusuke / MATSUMOTO Yuki bt YOSHIMURA Maharu / ISHIKAWA Kasumi -9, 6, 6, 3

Final
MORIZONO Masataka / ITO Mima bt KARUBE Ryusuke / MATSUMOTO Yuki 8, 9, 11

Junior Boys’ Singles

Quarter-Finals
UDA Yukiya bt MIYGAWA Shodai 5, 2, 8
KANAMITSU Koyo bt TEZUKA Ryoma 8, -8, 4, -8, 6
TOGAMI Shunsuke bt ASAZU Aoto 12, 9, 9
HARIMOTO Tomokazu bt HAMADA Kazuki 9, 7, 4

Semi-Finals
UDA Yukiya bt KANAMITSU Koyo 11, -9, 13, 13
HARIMOTO Tomokazu bt TOGAMI Shunsuke 5, 7, 7

Final
HARIMOTO Tomokazu bt UDA Yukiya 9, 9, 9

Junior Girls’ Singles

Quarter-Finals 
NAGASAKI Miyu bt IZUMO Miku 8, 5, -9 -6, 9
ODO Satsuki bt OKAZAKI Hiyori -17, 2, 6, 6
SUGASAWA Yukari bt KIHARA Miyuu 6, -8, 8, 10
SHIOMI Maki bt CHIBA Natsuki 5, 8, 9

Semi-Finals
NAGASAKI Miyu bt ODO Satsuki 6, -9, -9, 9, 9
SHIOMI Maki bt SUGASAWA Yukari -4, -6, 10, 8, 9

Final
NAGASAKI Miyu bt SHIOMI Maki -5, -5, 11, 5, 8